Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Feb 2024
Prevalence of alcohol and other drug detections in non-transport injury events.
To measure the prevalence of alcohol and/or other drug (AOD) detections in suspected major trauma patients with non-transport injuries who presented to an adult major trauma centre. ⋯ AOD detections were common in trauma patients with non-transport injury causes. Population-level surveillance is needed to inform prevention strategies that address AOD use as a significant risk factor for serious injury.
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Emerg Med Australas · Feb 2024
Contemporary management of acute heart failure in the emergency department and the potential impact of early diuretic therapy on outcomes.
Acute heart failure (AHF) is one of the most common conditions presenting to the ED and patients often require hospitalisation. Emerging evidence suggests early diagnosis and administration of diuretics are associated with improved patient outcomes. Currently, there is limited literature on the management of AHF in the Australian ED context. ⋯ Despite symptoms and signs being well recognised at presentation, time to diuretics was relatively long. Early diuretics administration was associated with improved patient outcomes, particularly in clinically more stable patients. Due to the limitations of the study design, results should be interpreted with caution and warrant further research to identify factors that delay timely administration of diuretics.
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Emerg Med Australas · Feb 2024
Changing culture: An intervention to improve blood culture quality in the emergency department.
Blood cultures (BCs) remain a key investigation in ED patients at risk of bacteraemia. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of a multi-modal, nursing-led intervention to improve the quality of BCs in the ED, in terms of single culture, underfilling and contamination rates. ⋯ Significant improvements in BC quality are possible with nursing-based interventions in the ED.
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Emerg Med Australas · Feb 2024
Assessing the utility of night-time presentations as a proxy for alcohol-related harm among young emergency department trauma patients.
To assess the usefulness of night-time presentations to measure alcohol-related harm (ARH) in young trauma patients, aged 12-24 years, attending Western Australian EDs. ⋯ Implementing targeted interventions during night hours could be beneficial in addressing ARH presentations. However, relying solely on the time of presentation as a proxy for ARH is unlikely to effectively identify ARH in young individuals. Instead, the present study emphasises the importance of implementing mandatory data collection strategies in EDs to ensure accurate measurement of ARH cases.
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Emerg Med Australas · Feb 2024
End-of-life care: A retrospective cohort study of older people who died within 48 hours of presentation to the emergency department.
To describe the characteristics of, and care provided to, older people who died within 48 h of ED presentation. ⋯ Identification of patients at end-of-life (EoL) is not always straightforward; consider recent reduction in independence and recent ED visits/hospital admissions. System-based strategies that span pre-hospital, ED and in-patient care are recommended to facilitate EoL pathway implementation and care continuity.